EDWARD A.
SUCHMAN
AND THE SCIENTIFIC
APPROACH TO
EVALUATION
Edward A. Suchman
considered that
evaluation must be
approached with
the logic of scientific
method.
Edward A. Suchman
hisstudies in the field of
social sciences, particularly
public health, made him
recognized that evaluation
research is attended by
practical constraints.
Edward A. Suchman
stated that evaluation
research, in their attempts
to expose desirable and
undesirable
consequences, must
consider relevant values,
especially those in conflict.
Edward A. Suchman
His contribution to the
field, Evaluative Research:
Principles and Practice in
Public Service and Social
Action Programs 1967.
Edward A. Suchman
Makes it clear that he
considered that an evaluator
should use whatever
research techniques are
available and appropriate to
circumstances and needs of
a particular evaluative study.
Edward A. Suchman
Believed the ideal would
adhere to the classic
experimental model, he also
stressed that, in reality,
evaluation research projects
usually utilize some variation
or adaptation of this model.
Edward A. Suchman
Believed that
evaluation, like all
research, must rest
upon the logic of the
scientific method.
Edward A. Suchman
He expected that an evaluator
would use whatever research
techniques are available and
feasible according to the
circumstances of a particular
evaluation.
Edward A. Suchman
Evaluation Research to be
those procedures for
collecting and analysing data
which increase the possibility
for proving rather than
asserting the worth of some
social activity.
Edward A. Suchman
Hispublication focused on the
area of social research, and his
main contribution to evaluation in
his interesting and informative
book Evaluative Research:
Principles and Practice in Public
Service and Social Action
Programs(1987)
Edward A. Suchman
Distinguishbetween
evaluation and evaluation
research.
Evaluation referred to
generally as the “process of
making judgements of
worth”
Edward A. Suchman
He discussed the
process of evaluation,
he proposed a
scientific approach.
Edward A. Suchman
He saw evaluation as continous
social process, inherently
involving a combination of basic
assumptions underlying the
activity being evaluated and of
the personal values of the study
participants as well as the
evaluator.
Edward A. Suchman
Evaluation. He maintained,
must necessarily become a
scientific process to account
for this intrinsic subjectivity
since it cannot be
eliminated.
OBJECTIVES
Three main aspects of
evaluation
1. Conceptual aspects- which
include purposes and principles of
evaluation, values, and the
evaluation process, assumption for
evaluation studies, types of
evaluation, and the categories of
evaluation.
OBJECTIVES
2. The Methodological Aspects-
which includes evaluation versus non
evaluation research,
methodological approaches to
evaluation, variations in evaluation
research design, principles of
evaluation research design, and the
measurement of effects (with
emphasis on reliability and validity.
OBJECTIVES
3. The administrative aspect-
which includes evaluation
and administrative science,
the administration evaluation
studies (some problem
areas) and compromises to
meet administrative
constraints.
Conceptual Aspects of Evaluation
Suchman viewed evaluation
as a scientific process.
Consistent with this stance,
he did not consider that the
field of evaluation has any
methodology different from
scientific method
Conceptual Aspects of Evaluation
He conceptualized evaluation
research as “first and foremost
research, and as such it must
adhere as closely as possible
to currently accepted
standards of research
methodology”
Conceptual Aspects of Evaluation
Suchman held strongly to the
concept that by adopting
scientific method, an evaluator
will produce findings that are
more objective and of
ascertainable reality and
validity.
Conceptual Aspects of
Evaluation
Basic research is the
discovery of
knowlegde:
administrative action is
not a necessary
consequence.
Conceptual Aspects of Evaluation
But evaluation research is
applied research, and its
purpose is to determine the
extent to which a specified
program is achieving the
desired result.
Conceptual Aspects of
Evaluation
The results will always
be used by the
administrator for
decisions about the
future of the program.
Conceptual Aspects of
Evaluation
Bearing in mind the dominant
role of administrative criteria in
determining the worthwhileness
of the study undertaken ,the
evaluator needs to be
constantly aware of the
potential utility of findings.
Conceptual Aspects of
Evaluation
This emphasis upon the
necessity for usefulness of
findings could give rise, in
Suchman opinion, to a very
real problem for the
evaluator.
Conceptual Aspects of
Evaluation
Because of a strong vested
interest, the program
administrator will endeavour to
control the evaluation, at least
to the extent of defining the
objectives of the program to be
evaluated.
Conceptual Aspects of
Evaluation
To a far greater extent than the basic
research situation.
Thus, it is not the concepts of
research per se that make evaluation
studies difficult, “but rather the
practical problems of adhering to
these principles in the face to
administrative considerations”.
Conceptual Aspects of
Evaluation
When he explored weather
evaluation research is ready
to play a more significant
role, Suchman concluded
that this was not so.
Systematic analysis of the
theoretical,
Conceptual Aspects of
Evaluation
methodological, and
administrative principles
underlying the evaluator's
objectives and procedures was
needed before positive and
meaningful steps forward could
be taken confidently.
Conceptual Aspects of
Evaluation
Some aspects of Suchman’s
views of these three
(connected) aspects of
evaluation research will now
be outlined.
Purpose and Principles of
Evaluation
Suchman supported the
purposes of evaluation listed
by Bigman (1961)
1. To discover whether and
how well objectives are
being fulfilled.
Purpose and Principles of
Evaluation
2. To determined
the reasons for
specific successes
and failures.
Purpose and Principles of
Evaluation
3. To uncover the
principles underlying
a successful program.
Purpose and Principles of
Evaluation
4. To direct the course
of experiments with
techniques for
increasing
effectiveness.
Purpose and Principles of
Evaluation
5.To lay the basis for
further research on the
reasons for the relative
success of alternative
techniques.
Purpose and Principles of
Evaluation
6. To redefine the means
to be used for attaining
objectives, and even to
redefine subgoals, in the
light of reason findings.
Values and the Evaluation Process
Value Formation Suchman
Assessing the Effect Goal Setting
considered
of this goal operation
(Program Evaluation
)
Objectives
that the
evaluation
Putting Goal Activity Goal Measuring process stems
Into Operation
(Program Operation)
(Criteria)
from , and
returns to the
Identifying Goal Activtiy
(Program Planning)
formation of
values.
Assumptions for Evaluation
Studies
Suchman’s main assumption for
evaluation studies is that every program
ha some value for some purpose. It
follows that the most identifying feature
of evaluation research “is the presence
of some goal or objective whose
measure of attainment constitutes the
main focus of the research problem.”
Assumptions for Evaluation
Studies
Suchman outlined six
questions that must be
answered when formulating
the objectives of a program
for evaluation purposes and,
indeed, the design of the
study itself:
1. What is the nature of the
content of the objective
(e.g., change the
knowledge, attitudes, and/or
behavior)?
2. Who is the target of the
program (e.g., large-scale or
discrete groups)
3. When is the desired
change to take place (e.g.,
short term or long range
goals or cyclical, repetitive
program)?
4. Are the objectives unitary
or multiple (e.g., programs
similar fro all users different
for different groups)?
5. What is the desired
magnitude of the effect
(e.g., widespread or non
concentrated results)?
6. How is the objective to be
attained (e.g., voluntary
cooperation or mandatory
sanctions)?
Types of Evaluation
Ultimate Evaluation- refers
to the determination of
the overall success of a
program vis-à-vis its stated
objectives.
Types of Evaluation
Preevaluative Research- deals
with intermediate problems ( for
example, development of
reliable and valid explications of
the problem, the definition of
goals, and the perfection of
techniques) that must be solved
before ultimate evaluation
maybe attempted.
Types of Evaluation
Short-term Evaluation-
seeks specific
information about
concrete procedures in
terms of immediate
utility.
Categories of Evaluation
1. Effort- Evaluation in this category have
as their criterion of success of the
quantity and quality of program
activity that takes place.
-this is an assessment of input regardless
of output.
-it indicates, at least, that something is
being done to meet a problem
Categories of Evaluation
2. Performance- Criteria
in this area measure
results of effort rather
than the effort itself.
Categories of Evaluation
3. Adequacy of Performance-
this criterion of success refers to
the degree to which effective
performance is adequate by
comparison with the total
amount of need (according the
defined objectives)
Categories of Evaluation
4. Efficiency- Evaluation in
this category addressed the
question, Is the capacity of
an individual, organization,
facility, operation, or activity
to produce results in
proportion to the effort
expended?
Categories of Evaluation
5. Process- The purpose
of this category is to
investigate basic
explanations for reasons
leading to findings.
Suchman outlined four dimensions
of analysis of process:
a. The attributes of the
program
b. The population expose to
the program
c. The context within which
the program occurred,
Suchman outlined four
dimensions of analysis of
process:
d. The different kinds of
effects produced by the
program (e.g., multiple of
the unitary effects and
duration of effects)
In summary, in discussing
types and categories of
evaluation, Suchman
outlined the basic
process to be followed in
conducting an
evaluation study.
This process entails stating
objectives in terms of ultimate,
intermediate, or immediate
goals, or examining the
underlying assumptions, and of
instituting criteria of effort,
performance, adequacy,
efficiency, and process.
Thank you
for listening.
God Bless Us.
